Hill’s Science Diet is sold by veterinarians and many big box stores as both a general food and a solution to various problems like weight management or bad joints. They have both over the counter foods and prescription diets, and have a big share of the dog food market.
We choose not to carry Science Diet because most their products contain a lot of carbohydrates. At Woofers we believe that dogs evolved to eat meat, not carbs. I’ve never seen a dog grazing in a corn field or digging for potatoes.
Most of the foods made by Hill’s contain grains, potatoes, and other starches as the main ingredient. Some of their products contain by-products and other questionable ingredients like cellulose (most often derived from cotton or wood pulp), food coloring, and fillers with little nutritional value, like soybean meal run.
Fortunately, Hill’s has noticed that customers are moving away from their lab-tested foods, and they have started producing a line of food called ‘ideal balance’. While this food still leaves something to be desired, because it still contains mostly grains and very little meat, it is a much more natural food and much closer to something a dog should be eating then their old formulas.
We hope Hill’s will continue their progress, and continue to eliminate questionable ingredients. For now, we are not comfortable selling any of their products. I will forever wonder why any veterinarian would carry and recommend such a low quality food.